X-ray beam collimation is an important procedure in x-ray imaging.
Proper collimation of the x-ray beam to a region of interest helps keep patient radiation dosage down and improve image quality. Automatic collimation has been developed in the past to make operation of x-ray imagers easier. In automatic collimation an x-ray imager's collimator configuration is adjusted with minimal or no user interaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 2 7,340,033 describes a type of automatic collimation.
However it has been observed that medical staff who are present during imager's operation are exposed to quite significant dosages even though good collimation has been achieved.